Fr. Saverio Cannistra, OCD
Missions and Identity
Another aspect of the "timidity" of our mission is that we cannot sufficiently characterize it in relation to our (Carmelite) charism. Sometimes someone thinks that the identity of Carmel cannot be lived in the attitude of mission, or only at the cost of its drastic reduction. This is a paradox, because mission should, on the contrary, represent the maturation and fulfillment of our identity.
If we think, for example, of Teresa of Jesus or of Teresa of the Child Jesus, we certainly cannot claim that their missionary zeal took anything away from their identity as Discalced Carmelites or weakened it in any way. Quite the opposite, because in this missionary love, the person of Jesus Christ enters into them more powerfully and shares his being with them more fully. The mission of Carmel should be as described by Teresa, especially in the second of her Exclamations: 1 to abandon Jesus in order to have him more fully, since to have him means that we become like him, who for the love of others renounced having anything. Thus, mission intrinsically belongs to our charism: we cannot live "in obedience to Jesus Christ" (Rule, art. 2), if this "obedience" does not also become "obedience" and service to every man and every woman for whom Jesus Christ shed his blood.
Also, when talking about the inculturation of the charism, about its adaptation to various socio-cultural contexts, its primary condition is that the charism is lived truly deeply and that our assimilation of it is so profound that it allows us to express the Carmelite charism in new forms, different from those that are already established. Unfortunately, I cannot say that this is happening commonly. Reports from pastoral visits (of individual provinces and monasteries) in countries of all geographic latitudes more often testify to a monotonous looping around the same problems than to diverse expressions of (Carmelite) charism in the midst of different cultures.
Problems and sins are the same everywhere, and it is not so much (individual) culture that can be blamed, but rather human weakness and imperfection. Evil remains the same. Only good is creative and multifaceted. To put it more concretely and prosaically: often instead of transplanting our charism to other lands, we (only) repeat unmastered problems (in the area) of our human fragility, our style of religious life, our communal coexistence.
I remember what a certain general superior told me at one meeting of general superiors of different orders: “We made a mistake by focusing more on promoting the order than on passing on the charism.” I appreciated this ability for self-critique. It leads to deeper reflection and to a different way of conceiving mission. Our mission – in Europe as well as in Africa, Asia, and America – should arise from the testimony of certain (fundamental) values that we realize in our lives and that transcend each individual culture, and therefore it is possible to pass on and realize these values under diverse circumstances, whether geographical or social or generational.
What (fundamental) elements characterize Carmelite charism in our eyes and motivate us for mission? After all, if we are given any gifts, then it is precisely these gifts that make us missionaries, because we desire that others participate in them. When a Carmelite goes on a mission, what does he bring with him? What is his way of proclaiming that the kingdom of God is near, that it is already among us? I presume we all agree that the first and basic such elements are the experience of God's closeness in prayer and in fraternal life. And how could one authentically experience prayer and community without practicing equally authentic poverty, detachment from the world, and humble willingness to serve? These values should imbue the missionary! And thus – as the Gospel says about him – he does not need to take any other equipment with him, because this is sufficient for the mission: to have the experience that God is alive and we stand in his presence.
Thus, we need to change our way of thinking. As I mentioned at the beginning, the fundamental question is not: “What will we do?”, but: “Who am I and what do I bring? How do I proclaim the gospel – not with words, but with the testimony of my life?”
I do not think that our religious orders need to multiply their presence (and it is the opposite: we are forced to leave many places). We do not need "more communities," but "new communities," meaning communities that bear witness and are capable of showing the world the gospel read through Carmelite eyes, Jesus loved by a Carmelite heart. It may be too simple, but in essence, so is the gospel.
Translated from Italian by Martina Vintrová
